This invention relates generally to remotely adjustable mirrors and more particularly to extremely large vehicular mirrors.
Many industrial vehicles, such as: dump trucks, earth movers, excavators, and the like, must employ very large mirrors in order to have a view of their surroundings for safety purposes. These mirrors are often rectangular on the order of four feet high by one foot wide and may be flat or convex.
Due to the economics involved with such large machinery, they are often operated at least two, and usually three, shifts a day. This means that multiple drivers are employed requiring that the mirrors be adjusted for each driver. Manual adjustment of the mirror is difficult and time consuming. The operator/driver must first sit to see how the mirrors are currently adjusted, get up to adjust the mirror, re-seat themselves, and repeat the process if the mirror wasn't properly adjusted. This though becomes burdensome and subsequent drivers often “make do” with the adjustment from the previous driver.
Clearly, by “making do”, there are potential blind spots in the mirror's view that can pose significant risks to other vehicles and pedestrians.
Remote control, such as is found in passenger vehicles has not been feasible. The motors, gears, and basic structure used in passenger vehicles does not create a solution for such large and heavy mirrors as is found in the industrial vehicle setting. Because of this, remote control has not been employed, leaving the drivers with only the option of manual manipulation of the mirrors.
It is clear from the foregoing that there is a need for an improved mechanism and mirror which is remotely adjustable.